Love Again
by Resilient Heart
Summary: An angsty little fic that's brewed for almost a year now. Directly follows 2x5 when Regina is forced to let go of Daniel. StableQueen and RegalBeliever centric. TW: Depression, Suicide, Angst. Regina ponders Daniel's words and just what love has done to her. Rated T for adult themes. One shot.


_"Then love again."_

The words rang in her mind constantly, playing on repeat, as if to brand the soft lilt of his voice into her mind. "I love you," she'd said. The only person besides Henry who she had room in her heart to love still. Yet, with his dying breath, Daniel hadn't proclaimed his love to her- there had been no need. He'd died for his love for her. Instead, he had used the final moments of his sanity to encourage her to find the happiness they'd shared with someone else, someone alive.

 _Oh Daniel. If you only knew what I'd done..._

In many ways, this was far worse than keeping him preserved in her vault forever. Before, she could look at him, talk to him whenever she needed. He was the one person in town who would listen to her without judgment, without hatred. He was the one person she had in this town who she knew loved her. She could pretend he was merely sleeping, pretend that at any moment, he'd wake and smile at her, gather her close to him and caress her hair. He would have been the only person who could tame the terrible Evil Queen.

Except for her son. Her mind fell back on Henry when he was at the stables. She remembered the terror she'd felt as she saw her son clasped around the throat by Daniel's body, and then, he'd seen her. He'd seen her, and released Henry, and Regina was so struck by the image of him standing, walking, awake, alive... as if in a trance, she'd walked towards him.

When David had threatened to shoot him, she hadn't known what had possessed her not to simply set him aflame. She had the power. She had the desire. Yet, that part of her had seemed shockingly silent; as if she'd forgotten how to use magic (she hadn't). Upon further reflection, she could only think that, perhaps the innocent girl she'd been had taken over, and pushed the Queen to the background. For just a moment, it was Regina's turn to shine. She'd been waiting for this moment for too many years to count. And now... now, he was here.

Of course, nothing was ever as it seems, and magic always came with a price. In the end, she'd gotten to embrace her love one last time, tell him that she loved him one more time, before he disappeared into nothingness; before she'd used her magic to turn him into dust. To end his pain. Now, not even his body remained, and Regina realized she was truly alone.

Days crawled by. She still hadn't gone into work. There wasn't really a need for her, the towns people didn't exactly want her. Right now, she didn't really want them either, so she thought it was best to stay away. David had come over once to ask her some inane question or another, and she'd ignored him, ignored the anger in his voice after having repeated her name and the question more than once. She didn't care. She didn't even have the heart to ask about Henry.

Henry... the little boy she'd raised. Her little prince, the child she'd loved and adored and cared for. The son who had loved her, adored her, until he'd found the adoption papers while snooping for Christmas presents in her closet, and he'd launched himself on the quest to find his real mother.. Henry, who had read her story, knew all that had happened to her, and still thought her a villain. Henry, who had obviously seen her very upset that day at the stables, but hadn't come by to see the woman he had once called 'Mom'.

Love again, Daniel had said. She had. Despite everything, despite knowing that love had always let her down, despite taking away her ability to have children years and years ago, she'd let this little one into her life, into her heart, into her soul. How she'd so wanted Henry and Daniel to meet one day... how she'd wanted to explain to Henry why she was so warped and twisted. In the end, she hadn't needed to, because he had known. He just hadn't cared.

Love again. Regina laughed darkly to herself. Everything she ever loved left her. In the end, she was left without Daniel and Henry, without any hope for the future. In the end, as her hand clutched around the neck of the potion bottle, the bitter taste of poison on her tongue, she could no longer deny that Mother had been right. Love was nothing more than weakness, and there was only one way to eradicate it.

With her final breaths, and the last vestiges of strength she had, Regina sent a tiny flame dancing towards the curtains. Some of her final images were of the orange fire whooshing up to the ceiling and lighting it as well. Paint curled and peeled away; dry wall disintegrated, and the heavy wooden support beams glowed with live embers. It would spread quickly enough, and no one visited regularly enough for the fire to be caught before it would be too late. No one would know that she died by her own hand. No one would know that she was a victim of love.

She closed her eyes and thought of Henry and Daniel...


End file.
